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The Panel focused on good practices and lessons learned in the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of the adverse impact of climate change. Its main objectives were to understand the benefits of disability-inclusive climate action and to identify opportunities for international cooperation in mitigation and adaptation actions which promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

The panellists of the event were:

• Ms Catalina Devandas Aguilar, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
• Ms Amalia A. Decena, President of Handicapables Association of Cagayan, Philippines
• Mr Sébastien Jodoin, Assistant Professor at the McGill University Faculty of Law and Canada Research Chair in Human Rights and the Environment
• Ms Deborah Iyute Oyuu, Programme Officer at the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda

Disability Rights Defenders (a project of the Independent Living Institute, Sweden) and the European Network on Independent Living held a webinar focused on legal clinics - a tool to promote disability rights.

About the webinar: Can legal clinics focussed on human rights and disability rights be a tool to promote disability rights and support a social change in society? How do legal clinics work and cooperate with clients, universities and civil society organisations? In our webinar we want to spread knowledge and information on legal clinics and share experience from Europe, the US and Latin America.

Everyday barriers that Afghan women and girls with disabilities face are described.  Decades of conflict have decimated government institutions and development efforts have failed to reach many communities most in need. Obtaining access to health care, education, and employment, along with other basic rights, is particularly difficult for Afghan women and girls with disabilities, who face both gender discrimination and stigma and barriers associated with their disability.

This report is based primarily on research by Human Rights Watch researchers from April 2018 through January 2020 in Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, and Herat, Afghanistan. 23 interviews with women with disabilities and 3 interviews with family members of women and girls with disabilities were conducted. 14 healthcare and education professionals were interviewed, including representatives from the United Nations and international and local nongovernmental organizations providing services to persons with disabilities in Afghanistan

This report documents how thousands of children in Armenia live in orphanages, residential special schools for children with disabilities, and other institutions. The report is based on Human Rights Watch visits to five state-run orphanages and ten state-run schools, including six special schools and four mainstream schools, and interviews with 173 people, in eight cities in Armenia. They interviewed 47 children and young adults, and 63 families of children living in orphanages, attending special schools or attending mainstream schools. They also interviewed directors of orphanages, special schools, and mainstream schools, as well as social workers, doctors, teachers, psychologists, caregivers, and other staff in institutions

Topics include: overview of residential institutions in Armenia; institutionalization of children and young adults and discrimination in the deinstitutionalization process; problems for children and young adults in residential institutions; lives transformed; national and international legal obligations; failure to guarantee quality education to children with disabilities; other forms of education for children with disabilities; government and donors’ response; recommendations

This short video highlights the situation of disabled children in Russian orphanages. In conjunction with the report by Human Rights Watch, it calls for the better treatment of disabled children in institutions and increased de-institutionalisation

"This web-based disability orientation for staff is a multi-media, 40-minute video that includes interesting and thought provoking statements, resources and good practices from UNICEF and partners from across the globe. The objective of the orientation is to strengthen understanding of, and capacity to support, programming for children and women with disabilities. The Disability Orientation consists of two main modules, each module has five lessons. The first part of the Orientation provides an overview of the disability movement and what disability means according to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The second part of the Orientation focusses on how to mainstream disability through our work. The Orientation on Disability can be taken individually or in groups"
Note: Video is available with English subtitles as well as accessibility options like voice over and American Sign Language